Domain registrar jurisdictions: Panama, Iceland, Costa Rica, US

Which treaties let foreign police reach a registrar?

Two layers matter: the Budapest Convention and bilateral treaties. All four countries are parties to the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime. Police in each can therefore ask the others to preserve and produce computer data. The convention works between governments. A foreign prosecutor still needs the local authority to act.

Bilateral treaties add a faster channel with the United States. The US Justice Department's April 2022 list of mutual legal assistance treaties includes Panama, in force since 6 September 1995. It lists no bilateral treaty with Iceland or Costa Rica.

In Panama, the local step is now clearly written. Law 478 of 2025 added article 338-C to the Code of Criminal Procedure. It lets the Ministerio Público order a person or company to supply computer data in its possession. That is why our rule reads: We release the data we hold only when Panamanian law requires it (a Panamanian court or prosecutor's order), or in a UDRP case. See data disclosure and law enforcement.

Does the GDPR apply to my registrar?

It applies on the territory of Iceland, because Iceland is part of the European Economic Area. An Icelandic registrar or host processes your data under GDPR rules, enforced by Iceland's data protection authority.

Panama, Costa Rica and the United States are outside the EEA. The GDPR can still reach a company there that offers services to people in the EU, under its article 3(2). That is a question about the customers a company targets, not about its home country.

Panama has its own data law. Law 81 of 2019 came into force on 29 March 2021 and is supervised by ANTAI, the national transparency authority. Its article 24 requires data to be handed to competent judicial authorities on a proper request, and it excludes bulk requests. The Panama domain law page sets out the other articles.

How does a foreign court judgment become binding in Panama?

Through exequatur before the Fourth Chamber (General Affairs) of Panama's Supreme Court. The rules are in articles 155 to 157 of Law 61 of 2015, the Code of Private International Law.

Article 156 sets four conditions:

1. The foreign court was competent and did not invade an area reserved to Panamanian courts.
2. The judgment was not given in default: the defendant was personally served and could defend.
3. It does not breach fundamental principles of Panamanian public order.
4. The copy is authentic and translated into Spanish.

Without a treaty, article 155 adds reciprocity: enforcement can be refused if the other country is shown not to enforce Panamanian judgments. Until a judgment passes this filter, it does not bind PanamaRegistrar. That is the core of our takedown procedure. We did not confirm the equivalent rules in Iceland, Costa Rica or the United States for this page.

Which registrars are based in each country?

The examples below come from our October 2026 research on registrars; each is sourced on the best offshore domain registrars page.

• Panama: PanamaRegistrar, operated by DomaineGoat LLC. The .pa country-code registry is sponsored by the Universidad Tecnológica de Panamá, per IANA.
• Iceland: OrangeWebsite, 1984 Hosting (1984 ehf) and FlokiNET, which also operates in Romania and Finland.
• Costa Rica: Njalla, through njalla.srl since late 2024, according to a September 2025 blog post.
• United States: Namecheap (Phoenix, Arizona), Porkbun (Oregon), Epik LLC (owned by Registered Agents Inc.) and Incognet (Wyoming). Verisign, which runs .com and .net, is in Reston, Virginia.

Comparisons with each one: Njalla, OrangeWebsite, Namecheap, Porkbun, Epik.

Does the registrar's country matter if the registry is elsewhere?

Yes, but only for what the registrar holds. The registrar's country decides who can order it to hand over your account data, change your DNS or suspend your domain at registrar level. The registry's country decides who can lock or move the domain at its source.

For a .com, the registry is Verisign in the United States, whatever registrar you use. For a .de it is DENIC in Germany; for a .ch, SWITCH in Switzerland. Pairing a Panamanian service with a registry outside a given country is a legitimate way to choose the legal systems that apply. It is not protection from your own country's courts.

The registry jurisdiction index lists the registry country for each of our 43 extensions. Prices are on the price list: a .com costs $11.99.